Dio
is one of the true metal gods for sure, and his first solo album “Holy
Diver” is most certainly a powerful contribution to the metal boom
of the 1980s. And to his credit, he is still putting out the same caliber
of studio records to this day.

The live performance that would make up “Holy Diver Live” was
recorded at London’s famed Astoria Theater way back in 1995. Ten years
later, the performance would make its way onto DVD and has gotten rave reviews
since. This year the entire performance has been released on CD in its entirety.
The first of the two discs features a live performance of the entire “Holy
Diver [1983]” album. The second disc is jam-packed with many hits
from Dio’s time with famed rock groups Rainbow and Black Sabbath.

Dio begins the Holy Diver experience with a spoken word introduction that
draws from lyrics and concepts from the “Holy Diver” album.
I hate to say it, but it’s probably my favorite part of the entire
2-disc set.

I’m not saying that the music isn’t good; there are just a couple
things about the live performance that ruin it for me. First off, most of
the songs are in a different key than the originals. I’ve always believed
that slight variations in the way a song is performed live is the beauty
of listening to a live performance versus a studio recording; but sometimes
it doesn’t work. Sometimes it is the calling card of a band that cannot
duplicate its past sound. This can be for any number of reasons such as
different members, different gear, and so on. But regarding “Holy
Diver Live,” I don’t know what to say except that it is unfortunate
that they couldn’t have performed it verbatim.

The other problem I have with the entire album is that the vocals are somewhat
off. I found that some of the accents and the punchy quality of Dio’s
voice were missing. I understand that a singer’s style can change
for a number of reasons, but when performing an album track-for-track, I
think a singer should pay close attention to how it was originally recorded.

The second disc features songs that Dio recorded with Rainbow and Black
Sabbath along with the better songs from Dio’s second solo album “The
Last In Line [1984].” Despite my overall issues with both discs, I’d
have to say that this disc is the better of the two. One of the best performances
is “Man On The Silver Mountain,” an old Rainbow classic which
has always been one of my favorites. They really did a good job with it
in comparison to some of the other songs which I would have expected to
have been done as well. Example, “Sign Of The Southern Cross”
from Black Sabbath’s “The Mob Rules [1981].” There is
a real nice intro to the song which was not performed for “Holy Diver
Live” which is unfortunate.

For those who don’t know Dio’s music very well (in which case
I feel bad for you), “Holy Diver Live” definitely showcases
the musicianship of Dio and his band which has withstood the test of time.
For those who are expecting a verbatim rehashing of the original recordings,
it’s not. I guess I had assumed that the recording of “Holy
Diver” would have been a little better, especially because the entire
live performance is named for it.

But just because this album is not what I personally expected doesn’t
mean I don’t recommend it. The mix is excellent and it doesn’t
sound at all fake (meaning of course that it doesn’t sound like there
was any lip-syncing or computer-generated music). I guess I’d rather
have a live album that isn’t exact rather than a live album that is
too perfect.

Good, could have been better but FAR from the worst live album I’ve
heard.